Spirit of the Game

Spirit of the Game (SOTG) is the shared aspiration to co-create an experience that protects the basic joy of play for all. The WFDF Disc Golf Committee and SOTG Commission have been committed to introducing these principles to Disc Golf since the 2019 World Team Disc Golf Championship (WTDGC) in Estonia. We believe that this does not just align with Disc Golf etiquette and the Disc Golfer’s Code (“Play Smart. Respect the Course. Represent the Sport”), but extends these.

SOTG enables a fair and enjoyable competition that allows all to perform at their best, builds a culture of growth and support that strives to celebrate successes, resolves any issue fairly and addresses cultural and sporting differences. In short, SOTG is a growth tool for individual athletes, teams and communities.

In a team setting of the WTDGC it is a valid and useful system to improve relationships, honesty and openness in our sport. We ask that all players, captains, caddies, and staff strive to uphold these principles both on and off the course which includes showing respect toward opponents, officials, volunteers, spectators, and the natural environment in which the event takes place.

What is Spirit of the Game (SOTG)?

Spirit of the Game (SOTG) is the shared aspiration to co-create an experience that protects the basic joy of play for all. Rather than a winning-at-all-cost attitude, it upholds the integrity of the sport and empowers us with agency, responsibility for ourselves and all others, even under pressure.

Spirit of the Game originates from the idea that deserved success comes from a fair game, where nobody intentionally breaks the commonly agreed-upon rules. It reaches beyond the idea of a zero-sum game to a more holistic perspective that asks us to care for the game, its participants and each of their experiences. Rather than expecting perfection, it asks us to engage as peers rather than relying on power, privilege or others to render justice. In a competitive context we thus aspire to prevent and resolve conflicts by engaging early and trustfully with each other.

In practice this means that more than just knowing and following the rules and keeping each other safe, we have to have self-control, a sporting attitude and a genuine interest in finding fairness for all. This practice of “don’t be a jerk” is grown by assessing, reflecting and focussing on our behaviour along these five dimensions:

1. PLAY TOGETHER (Communication): By communicating with opponents (and teammates alike) early, openly, sincerely, efficiently and with trust we build rapport before the game even starts. Acknowledging our shared intentions, our context and existing challenges creates a safe space for conflict resolution under pressure; giving honest and reflected feedback helps us grow and bring closure to any unresolved issues.
2. PLAY FAIRLY (Fair-mindedness): By genuinely caring about a fair competition we not just play fairly, but also make and resolve calls in a fair manner. We keep teammates in check and build deep trust amongst all participants. This trust helps resolving tense situations, even if the fairest resolution is beyond the rules or beyond the game.
3. PLAY NICELY (Self-control & Behaviour): By competing with genuine sportspersonship, a sporting attitude and good self-control we give everyone a chance to enjoy performing at their best. Keeping our composure in challenging situations, we enable safe communication for fair and good conflict resolution.
4. PLAY SAFELY (Safety & Care): By keeping each other safe, we allow everyone to compete at their best through a clean competition and the truest possible result. Caring about safety holistically (i.e. physical, emotional, material, etc.) for people (i.e. players, volunteers, officials, spectators, the community), venue and environment, we ensure that all get to enjoy the experience sustainably and invitingly.
5. PLAY BY THE RULES (Rules Knowledge & Use): By knowing and adhering to the agreed-upon rules we enable a fair competition; yet, true fairness may sometimes supersede the rules. In self-officiated sports everybody is an official and thus must know and apply the rules well to resolve conflicts fairly. As player-owned sports, we own and thus can improve the rules.

How do we apply Spirit of the Game in Disc Golf?

While it is fundamentally an attitude of striving for a fair and positive competition, there are a number of tools and methods that can be used in team and individual competition settings:

Spirit Awards: Recognising teams with the highest Spirit gives something to aspire to and for all to celebrate. Since 2022, the WTDGC has awarded teams with a Worlds medal for their Spirit: Australia (2022) and New Zealand (2024).

Personal responsibility and genuine care: Our tournament experience is shaped by all participants and therefore we all are responsible to uphold Spirit. As participants a good start is to reflect on what SOTG and its five dimensions mean for us, and to care for them.

Spirit Captains (SC): Teams should select a dedicated person that cares about developing a spirited attitude and to facilitate conflict resolution through tools like Spirit Circles and Spirit Scoring.

Spirit Directors (SD): Having a Spirit Director at an event helps the Spirit Captains and teams to have a better and more spirited event. The SD helps teams with Spirit Scoring, follows up with teams that struggle and facilitate conflict resolution. If your event awards a Spirit Award, you should have a Spirit Director that handles not just the tallying but also the journey to it.

Spirit Circles before and after a Game: Circling up with your competitors not just to wish a good round or thank for a good round, but to build rapport and share honest feedback and reflection on your and their performance builds trust and community. We thus suggest doing a Spirit Circle before the round to introduce yourselves, address potential culture, language and experience gaps. Equally, a Spirit Circle after the round with honest but caring feedback helps everyone’s growth and brings closure.

Spirit Scoring with comments: Reflecting, discussing and evaluating opponents and ourselves in regards to Spirit after a round fosters growth. Receiving a score together with a comment allows our teams to know what we do well and what we need to improve. It also allows us to track in-event and long-term progress.

Spirit of the Game Award

Since 2022, the WTDGC has presented a Spirit of the Game Award, recognising the team that best demonstrates sportsmanship, fair play, respect for opponents and the values of Spirit of the Game throughout the Championship.

Previous recipients of the award were:

• 2022 — Australia
• 2024 — New Zealand

At WTDGC 2026, Spirit of the Game was recognised separately in the Open and Masters divisions. The team achieving the highest final Spirit of the Game score in each division received the 2026 WTDGC Spirit of the Game Award.

The final rankings below are based on the Spirit of the Game assessments submitted by participating teams during the Championship.

Open Division – Spirit of the Game Results

Congratulations to Austria, winner of the 2026 WTDGC Open Division Spirit of the Game Award.

Austria finished the Championship with the highest overall Spirit of the Game score, earning an average of 13.29 points from their opponents.

The Open Division standings were closely contested at the top, with Japan (13.13), Ireland (12.88) and Great Britain (12.71) also receiving consistently high Spirit scores throughout the Championship.

Masters Division – Spirit of the Game Results